The present invention relates to backlit displays and, more particularly, to a backlit display with improved performance characteristics.
The local transmittance of a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel or a liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) display can be varied to modulate the intensity of light passing from a backlit source through an area of the panel to produce a pixel that can be displayed at a variable intensity. Whether light from the source passes through the panel to an viewer or is blocked is determined by the orientations of molecules of liquid crystals in a light valve.
Since liquid crystals do not emit light, a visible display requires an external light source. Small and inexpensive LCD panels often rely on light that is reflected back toward the viewer after passing through the panel. Since the panel is not completely transparent, a substantial part of the light is absorbed during its transits of the panel and images displayed on this type of panel may be difficult to see except under the best lighting conditions. On the other hand, LCD panels used for computer displays and video screens are typically backlit with fluorescent tubes or arrays of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that are built into the sides or back of the panel. To provide a display with a more uniform light level, light from these points or line sources is typically dispersed in a diffuser panel before impinging on the light valve that controls transmission to a viewer.
The transmittance of the light valve is controlled by a layer of liquid crystals interposed between a pair of polarizers. Light from the source impinging on the first polarizer comprises electromagnetic waves vibrating in a plurality of planes. Only that portion of the light vibrating in the plane of the optical axis of a polarizer can pass through the polarizer. In an LCD the optical axes of the first and second polarizers are arranged at an angle so that light passing through the first polarizer would normally be blocked from passing through the second polarizer in the series. However, a layer of translucent liquid crystals occupies a cell gap separating the two polarizers. The physical orientation of the molecules of liquid crystal can be controlled and the plane of vibration of light transiting the columns of molecules spanning the layer can be rotated to either align or not align with the optical axes of the polarizers. It is to be understood that normally white may likewise be used.
The surfaces of the first and second polarizers forming the walls of the cell gap are grooved so that the molecules of liquid crystal immediately adjacent to the cell gap walls will align with the grooves and, thereby, be aligned with the optical axis of the respective polarizer. Molecular forces cause adjacent liquid crystal molecules to attempt to align with their neighbors with the result that the orientation of the molecules in the column spanning the cell gap twist over the length of the column. Likewise, the plane of vibration of light transiting the column of molecules will be “twisted” from the optical axis of the first polarizer to that of the second polarizer. With the liquid crystals in this orientation, light from the source can pass through the series polarizers of the translucent panel assembly to produce a lighted area of the display surface when viewed from the front of the panel. It is to be understood that the grooves may be omitted in some configurations.
To darken a pixel and create an image, a voltage, typically controlled by a thin film transistor, is applied to an electrode in an array of electrodes deposited on one wall of the cell gap. The liquid crystal molecules adjacent to the electrode are attracted by the field created by the voltage and rotate to align with the field. As the molecules of liquid crystal are rotated by the electric field, the column of crystals is “untwisted,’and the optical axes of the crystals adjacent the cell wall are rotated out of alignment with the optical axis of the corresponding polarizer progressively reducing the local transmittance of the light valve and the intensity of the corresponding display pixel. Color LCD displays are created by varying the intensity of transmitted light for each of a plurality of primary color elements (typically, red, green, and blue) that make up a display pixel.
LCDs can produce bright, high resolution, color images and are thinner, lighter, and draw less power than cathode ray tubes (CRTs). As a result, LCD usage is pervasive for the displays of portable computers, digital clocks and watches, appliances, audio and video equipment, and other electronic devices. On the other hand, the use of LCDs in certain “high end markets, such as video and graphic arts, is frustrated, in part, by the limited performance of the display.
The liquid crystal display tends to have a limited dynamic range due to the extinction ratio of polarizers and imperfections due to the nature of liquid crystal material. In order to effectively display increasingly high dynamic images, a low resolution light emitting diode backlight may used to modulate the light that is provided to a higher resolution liquid crystal material. By the combination of the LED together with the LCD, a high dynamic range display can be achieved. Due to the lower resolution LED compared to the higher resolution of the LCD, the display has limits on its ability to display a high dynamic pattern of high spatial resolution. The display in many cases can simultaneously present an image that is both very bright (>2000 cd/m2) and very dark (<0.5 cd/m2). The human eye has limited dynamic range in a local area, and with visual masking, the eye can hardly perceive the limited dynamic range of high spatial frequency content.
FIG. 1 shows a technique to convert a high spatial resolution (“HDR”) image into a lower resolution LED image and a high resolution LCD image. The luminance of the HDR image is first low pass filtered and subsampled to the resolution of the LED array. A cross-talk correction may be applied. This low pass filtered and subsampled image determines the LED image that will drive the LED array using a raster decoder and a control line. The backlight image is predicted by convolving an upsampled LED image with the point spread function of the LED. An LCD image is then derived by dividing the original HDR image with the predicted backlight image. The final displayed image is thus the product of LED backlight image and the LCD transmittance to reproduce the image. Unfortunately, the resulting image tends to be lacking some of the fine spatial highlights.
What is desired, therefore, is a liquid crystal display having improved spatial highlights.